Razer Hydra

The Razer Hydra ($139.99 direct), a motion-sensor device in the vein of the Nintendo Wii or the Playstation Move, is one of the most precise controllers in its category. Although you'll be kept on a wired four-foot leash that may inhibit your range of motion while waggling your way through a bundled copy of Portal 2, it helps communicate your motions from the Hydra to your PC faster than any wireless device could currently hope to.

Design
The Hydra has three parts: the two nunchuck-style controllers (one for each hand) and a magnetic orb that tracks your movements. Every inch is covered in a soft matte plastic coating, except the orb, which has accenting lines that glow green underneath its black translucent glossy plastic when turned on. The nunchucks scream hardcore gaming?sorry Playstation Move, you're not the only motion controller with buttons anymore?each with its own joystick and four tactile buttons, as well as bumper and trigger buttons. The controllers curve and conform nicely to your hand?much more than Nintendo's rectangular Wiimote. The base station that houses the magnetic orb also acts as a handy place to rest your controllers. Several dips in the base station cradle the rounded grips of the controllers.

The entire device is wired with braided cable. A wired USB cable connects the magnetic motion-sensor to the computer and from the motion-sensor to the two controllers. All together you get about a 4 foot range of motion, with some slack if you want to stand back rather than stay seated. That is sufficient if you're hooked up to a 17-inch laptop, but you may require more room if you're rocking a 42-inch HDTV.

Configuration Software
There is driver support available for the Hydra on Razer's website, which allows you to control the level of brightness on the orb and adjust the sensitivity of the controls. Another tab within the software lists of all the titles compatible with the Hydra (over 125) and displays the controller layout used in each of the games. Configuring the controls has to be done in-game. Games include new titles like Call of Duty Black Ops and Deus Ex, and some rather curious titles that shouldn't be paired with a motion controller, like Torchlight and Darkspore, which are third-person RPGs. Therein lies a major problem with the Razer Hydra: there's a major difference between the natively supported Portal 2 game that comes bundled with the Hydra and the "compatible" games listed for the Hydra.

After booting up Fallout: New Vegas with the Razer Hydra, I found the experience extremely lacking compared with playing the game with a keyboard and mouse. Even when I switched the control settings within the game to "joystick" and adjusted some of the buttons, it was still extremely disorienting. I wasn't able to scroll through the dialogue options easily and between navigating the game and mapping the controls was a frustrating time-suck. The Hydra, like most "console" controllers, will lend itself more to first-person shooters like Call of Duty Black Ops and Left 4 Dead 2, which translated over more naturally to the Hydra than an RPG.

Playing Portal 2 on the Hydra
Portal 2 on the Hydra is one of the best motion-control experiences I've had. Movements were very precise thanks to the orb's magnetic motion sensing technology (and don't worry, the magnet is too low-powered to affect nearby objects). It's more accurate detecting movements than the accelerometer and optical sensor in the Wii, though you will be limited to a 2- to 3-foot range (I was able to stand about 4 feet back without issue) for optimal motion detection on the Hydra, whereas on the Wii you can stand about 11 feet back. But take into consideration that with the Hydra there's virtually no latency, whereas with the Wii the movements definitely aren't one to one.

Portal 2 is downloaded via Steam code and features 10 bonus levels specifically made for the Hydra. These levels demonstrate the Hydra's ability to sense depth. In these levels you can manipulate cubes, stretching them out to make things like bridges. Also in regular levels the depth function helps when moving the companion cubes across distances, by stretching your arm forward to place it on a button, for instance. Moving forward, back, and side-to-side is initiated by the joystick, and looking around requires physically moving one of the remotes.

It's unfortunate there aren't games, other than Portal 2, that natively support the Hydra. It's a beautifully-engineered product that deserves to be taken note of. But as of now, there seems to be little reason to purchase the Hydra without more worthwhile support from the game developing community. If you have $139 to burn and you don't mind limiting yourself to a short list of passable titles on the Hydra, then have at it. But your money will be better spent on a gaming keyboard and mouse, like the Razer BlackWidow Ultimate and Logitech Gaming Mouse G300 or Razer Mamba (2012).

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